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Lifetime Achievement Award: Patti Page

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Music industry veteran Jerry F. Sharell pays tribute to the late GRAMMY-winning country/pop singer
Jerry F. Sharell
GRAMMYs
Dec 2, 2014 - 4:06 pm
GRAMMY.com

(In addition to the GRAMMY Awards, The Recording Academy presents Special Merit Awards recognizing contributions of significance to the recording field, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, Trustees Award and Technical GRAMMY Award. In the days leading up to the 55th GRAMMY Awards, GRAMMY.com will present the tributes to the 2013 Special Merit Awards recipients.)

For me, writing an appreciation for Patti Page could take many pages in this book, so I'll give you my abbreviated version of the respect and admiration this great singer has bred in me and countless others. 

As a kid I remember loving her voice because it was smooth, ever-soothing, super-sensitive, and creatively classic. It was easy for me to fall in love with an infectious melody like the million-selling "With My Eyes Wide Open I'm Dreaming," but it was the voice of "The Singing Rage" that would make me a lifelong fan.

She did not just sing the songs. She sang them as if she wrote them, like she owned them. She gave her heart to all of her recordings and you could hear and feel it. As a young performer, she was an inspiration of mine as I worked my way to a degree at Kent State University singing in clubs, making $12 a night as a "boy singer." Patti's interpretation of a song was always something I would cling to. You could hear her passion on recordings like "Old Cape Cod," "Allegheny Moon" and "Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte," as well as her signature song "Tennessee Waltz," which stayed at No. 1 for 13 weeks. I was enamored when she would harmonize with her own vocals, which was a daring venture in the mid-'50s. More than a dozen of her singles became million sellers, an astounding feat. She reportedly sold more than 100 million records. Her version of the great standard "You Belong To Me" is still chilling.

Patti was a guest of mine on radio shows I've hosted over the years. Her professional attitude and friendliness are legend. Noticing a touch of jazz in some of her vocals in the latter years, I asked her about it. She not only confessed her love for jazz, but also a deep appreciation for the musicians who played it. Needless to say, her admiration for country music and music makers was endless. Her singing is unforgettable and her personal style was sparkling. She always looked like she was walking down a red carpet. She won the hearts of fans all over the world. 

Patti was made aware she was receiving this award just weeks before her passing on Jan. 1, and I'm sure she was proud of the achievement and the recognition it represented. She is and always will be music royalty and will be fondly remembered forever.

(Jerry F. Sharell is a five-decade veteran of the music industry and former president & CEO of Society of Singers. He hosts "Sundays With Sinatra" on radio station KKJZ-FM in Long Beach, Calif., and hosted "Great American Songbook" on KGIL-AM in Los Angeles.) 

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Lifetime Achievement Award: Carole King

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GRAMMY-winning songwriter Diane Warren pays tribute to a friend
Diane Warren
GRAMMYs
Dec 2, 2014 - 4:06 pm
GRAMMY.com

(In addition to the GRAMMY Awards, The Recording Academy presents Special Merit Awards recognizing contributions of significance to the recording field, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, Trustees Award and Technical GRAMMY Award. Each year, The Academy invites friends and colleagues of Special Merit Awards recipients to pay tribute to the honorees' career accomplishments, while also adding colorful anecdotes and personal accounts. In the days leading up to the 55th GRAMMY Awards, GRAMMY.com will present the tributes to the 2013 Special Merit Awards recipients.)

I have such a clear memory of this: I was probably no more than 7 years old. There was a 45 of a song one of my older sisters had. It was my favorite song. I looked at the name in the parentheses; oddly, not at the name of the artist who sang the song, but to see who wrote it. The song was "Up On The Roof" and the names in parentheses were Goffin/King. I would look at a lot of my favorite songs and see those same names.

Carole King, along with Gerry Goffin, or on her own, has written some of the greatest and most enduring songs of the last 100 years, and that will last hundreds more. Songs such as "Will You Love Me Tomorrow," "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman," "It's Too Late," and "You've Got A Friend," and so many more. Later she went on to make history with her own album Tapestry, showing the world it all comes down to the simplicity of a great song sung as only the writer of those songs could sing them. Perhaps not with the virtuosity and vocal gymnastics of some of the singers who sang them or could have sung them, but with more heart and soul than anyone else could ever bring to them.

I met Carole King at Duke's Coffee Shop when I was a starstruck 20-year-old and I stuttered something to her about being a fan and I'm a songwriter too. And she was very nice to me, even though I'm sure the last thing she wanted to do was talk to me. At that time I was frustrated by not yet having a hit and she told me to keep on writing and it will happen.

People use terms like "she is one of the greatest 'female' songwriters." F*** that. Carole King is one of the best songwriters. Ever.

On a personal note, I want to thank her for the kind words she took her time to say to an annoying person interrupting her breakfast. And also thank her for so many songs that have touched me and so many others. Congratulations on this award, Carole. No one deserves it more.   

(Songwriter Diane Warren has been nominated for 12 GRAMMY Awards and six Academy Awards, winning a GRAMMY in 1996 for "Because You Loved Me." She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001.)

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The Recording Academy Announces 2013 Special Merit Awards Recipients

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Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Charlie Haden, Carole King, Royer Labs, Ravi Shankar, and the Temptations among class of 2013 Special Merit Awards recipients
GRAMMYs
Dec 2, 2014 - 4:06 pm
GRAMMY.com

The Recording Academy today announced its 2013 Special Merit Awards recipients. This year's Lifetime Achievement Award recipients are Glenn Gould, Charlie Haden, Lightnin' Hopkins, Carole King, Patti Page, Ravi Shankar, and the Temptations; Trustees Award honorees are Marilyn and Alan Bergman, Leonard and Phil Chess, and Alan Livingston; and Ikutaro Kakehashi and Dave Smith, and Royer Labs are Technical GRAMMY Award recipients.

More information on this year's Special Merit Awards recipients

A special invitation-only ceremony will be held during GRAMMY Week on Feb. 9, 2013, and a formal acknowledgment will be made during the 55th Annual GRAMMY Awards telecast, which will be held at Staples Center in Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013, and broadcast live at 8 p.m. ET/PT on the CBS Television Network.

"Each year, The Academy has the distinct privilege of honoring those who have greatly contributed to our industry and cultural heritage, and this year we have a gifted and brilliant group of honorees," said Neil Portnow, President/CEO of The Recording Academy. "Their exceptional accomplishments, contributions and artistry will continue to influence and inspire generations to come."

The Lifetime Achievement Award honors performers who have made contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording while the Trustees Award recognizes such contributions in areas other than performance. Both awards are determined by vote of The Recording Academy's National Board of Trustees. Technical GRAMMY Award recipients are determined by vote of The Academy's Producers & Engineers Wing Advisory Council and Chapter Committees, as well as The Academy's Trustees. The award is presented to individuals and companies who have made contributions of outstanding technical significance to the recording field.

For breaking news and exclusive content, join The Recording Academy's social networks on Twitter and Facebook.

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Lifetime Achievement Award: Lightnin' Hopkins

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Gary Clark Jr. and Doyle Bramhall II pay tribute to legendary bluesman Lightnin' Hopkins
Gary Clark Jr. and Doyle Bramhall II
GRAMMYs
Dec 2, 2014 - 4:06 pm
GRAMMY.com

(In addition to the GRAMMY Awards, The Recording Academy presents Special Merit Awards recognizing contributions of significance to the recording field, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, Trustees Award and Technical GRAMMY Award. In the days leading up to the 55th GRAMMY Awards, GRAMMY.com will present the tributes to the 2013 Special Merit Awards recipients.)

When one becomes deeply familiar with the blues genre it is glaringly evident how the different regional styles connect, evolve and intersect yet remain very clearly individual in their own personalities. Rural and urban blues, country and city blues, electric and acoustic blues, solo troubadours, small combos, big band blues. And there's Mississippi Delta, Memphis, Chicago, and Texas blues. All rich with flavorings of their own, all rich with a legendary lineage of mythical names, all rich with a clear musical evolution dating back to the 1920s and further, to chain gangs, field hollers and experiences deeply rooted in Africa and specifically Mali.

To understand the importance of Sam Lightnin' Hopkins requires a look at Texas blues itself. Texas, often referred to as a "country within a country," stays true to its reputation as a century-long hotbed for the blues alongside Mississippi and Chicago. Its style: wide-open, flashy, dangerous, rule-bending, and always swinging. Its lineage staggeringly rich: Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Willie Johnson, Lead Belly, Mance Lipscomb, Lightnin' Hopkins, T-Bone Walker, Lil' Son Jackson, Freddie King, Larry Davis, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Pee Wee Crayton, Albert Collins, Johnny Copeland, Johnny Winter, Billy Gibbons, Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan, and many others.

Lightnin' Hopkins was born in Centerville, Texas, in 1912. His roots lie in the rural blues sounds of Texas and the Deep Ellum area. His foundational influence was the seminal blues legend Blind Lemon Jefferson. Legend has it that as a young boy he met and followed Jefferson around street corners and church gatherings in Texas, absorbing, learning, and eventually acompanying him. It is believed that Hopkins was the only guitarist to ever play alongside the great Blind Lemon.

Lightnin' was the bridge between ancient and modern, similar to the great legends Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf who bridged the Mississppi Delta style to Chicago blues. What is particularly important to Lightnin's place in this legacy was his bridging of the rural country style characterized by a singular man, wielding his voice, his poetry and an acoustic guitar into the plugged-in electric guitar-led drum-and-bass combos headed by Freddie King, Stevie Ray Vaughan and others. He carried the primitive rawness and intimacy of his rural Texas blues forefathers into the futuristic and powerful modern and electrified sound of the second half of the 20th century, which is still a part of mainstream Texas blues and Southern rock.

His landmark three-piece combo Herald recordings bear witness to an earthy power that would inform later power trios such as the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cream and ZZ Top.

Lightnin's sound was deep, raw and primitive yet had the flash and swagger of a switchblade knife. His vocals were raspy and rich and his quicksilver guitar playing incorporated hypnotic open-string bass lines and percussive tapping mixed with dynamic fingerpicking and fluid single-note lines across the entire fretboard. His lyrics spoke of heartbreak and love, sexual innuendo and the racial issues of the Deep South. He had humor and charm in both his lyrics and instrumental prowess. It is speculated that Lightnin' recorded nearly 1,000 songs and more albums than any other bluesman.

(Native Texan Gary Clark Jr. has drawn favorable comparisons to such guitar icons as Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan. His latest album is 2012's Blak And Blu. Fellow Texan Doyle Bramhall II is an in-demand guitarist and songwriter whose songs have been recorded by Eric Clapton, among others. He co-wrote "Glitter Ain't Gold [Jumpin' For Nothin']" on Blak And Blu.)

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Lifetime Achievement Award: Charlie Haden

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Red Hot Chili Peppers co-founder Flea pays tribute to legendary jazz bassist
Flea
GRAMMYs
Dec 2, 2014 - 4:06 pm
GRAMMY.com

(In addition to the GRAMMY Awards, The Recording Academy presents Special Merit Awards recognizing contributions of significance to the recording field, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, Trustees Award and Technical GRAMMY Award. In the days leading up to the 55th GRAMMY Awards, GRAMMY.com will present the tributes to the 2013 Special Merit Awards recipients.)

Charlie Haden has made it his life's mission to uplift the lives of others. In my case, he has succeeded dramatically. Time after time, I have listened to his recordings, seen him perform, and been touched by the divine truth. When I put on that first Liberation Music Orchestra record, or The Shape Of Jazz To Come, or the recent Come Sunday, I vibrate with a feeling that gives me hope for humanity, makes my suffering and complaints feel petty, lets me forgive anyone who has ever done me wrong, and most importantly, makes me aspire to create a light of my own, to put something beautiful out into the universe. This is a humble aspiration, to get a little footlight going, to merge in the large planet of glowing by a great like Charlie Haden. But that's what his music does, that's who he is — a person who brings us all together, who reminds us that we are all connected by our highest selves.

Despite the sophistication and technical brilliance of his playing, which comes from a soul enthralled with the folk and country music he grew up on as a toddler, the bebop he fell in love with as a teenager, a highly intelligent mind and body, work ethic disciplined enough to learn it, the countless hours of practicing and studying the music he loved … , despite the highly cerebral music he has played, his music is still for everyone. No matter how far out or evolved he has gotten, his music has always been for all humans, not for academics. His sound is one that touches everyone — it will make you weep, dance like a lunatic, and sit back and listen to the story unfold. The most highly spiritual thing that anyone can do is have faith and be completely in the moment. When Charlie Haden makes music, that's exactly where he is, and that is what enlightenment is.

A few years ago, I had the fortune to play with the great Ornette Coleman. I practiced for months to prepare. I was nervous about it and when the big day came, I was up there with these great jazz musicians with all the chops in the world playing maniacally, and I'm just an uneducated punk rocker, but I did my best. I did OK. I was in awe of Ornette, and did my best to support him with all my heart. A lot of different musicians played that night, all of whom were very well-respected, but at one point, all the many musicians left the stage, Charlie walked on it, and it was just Charlie and Ornette. After all the intense virtuosity that had gone on through the night, Charlie began to play a simple, bluesy, twangy, country riff, a little folk melody, and I felt Ornette really come alive, saw the audience fall into a reverent silence, and Charlie just schooled everybody, shredded everything that came before. He had the ability to play anything, but just came from the gutbucket with the humble truth, and he and Ornette began to dance around each other, and it was the greatest thing I ever saw. These two giants, who turned jazz upside down 50 years earlier, just connecting on the highest level, and the sheer beauty and violence of it reduced me to joyous tears.

When one is playing the kind of improvisational music that Charlie Haden does, he is constantly, through the vehicle of technique and knowledge, channeling magic, the cosmos, letting God speak, whatever you want to call it. To do that at the level of a man like Charlie Haden, one has to have the highest character, the biggest heart, the purest intentions, and utter disregard for commerce. Charlie Haden's motivation has always been to reach for the highest light, brave the depths where one is most vulnerable, to reach that state of ecstasy where time does not exist, where all our world is an illusion, and to bring it on home to us, so we can love. He has done it all his life. I love Charlie Haden and I am so grateful for him. What an awesome f***ing dude.

(Six-time GRAMMY winner Flea is a co-founder of Red Hot Chili Peppers. Their most recent album is 2011's I'm With You.)